Peterson gives Turner his approval

Adrian Peterson sounds eager to have Norv Turner improve the Vikings' passing game, not just have Peterson be the eternal focus of the offense.

Although they haven't worked together yet, Adrian Peterson seems pleased with the hiring of Norv Turner as the Vikings' new offensive coordinator.

In an interview with USA Today Monday, Peterson said Turner has "a brilliant mind" and will be a benefit to the Vikings, adding that he will help the passing game as he did in previous tenures working with talented but untested quarterbacks Troy Aikman and Philip Rivers.

"Our pass offense has really struggled in the past couple years," Peterson said. "I think (Turner) is going to be the perfect guy to come in and get us on the right path."

It's unclear the extent to which Peterson was consulted (if at all) when it came to the hiring of offensive coaches. It was likely not at all, as head coach Mike Zimmer said he hadn't had received a return call from Peterson when Zimmer was hired. While the conventional wisdom has it that players aren't consulted when it comes to bringing in a coaching staff, the reality is that star players usually have a voice in organizational decisions. Mike Shanahan is a perfect example of that. He earned two Super Bowl rings because he came to a Denver team where Dan Reeves and John Elway couldn't get along. One of them had to go. That guy was Reeves. After a season in which Shanahan and Robert Griffin III were at odds – publicly and privately – one of them had to go. As Reeves learned two decades earlier, the circle of life continues.

Whether Peterson and Turner will be a match made in heaven, A.P.'s comments tend to give the impression that he will do his part to make the Vikings offense successful and Turner should focus on the passing game. As a coach who oversaw the salad days of LaDainian Tomlinson and the emergence of dominance by Emmitt Smith, Turner has a track record of putting his coaching saddle on the back of a thoroughbred and developing young quarterbacks.

Maybe Peterson and the Vikings will be the "third-time-is-a-charm" scenario for Turner. If nothing else, the Big Dude abides.

TUESDAY NOTES

Former Vikings offensive coordinator Scott Linehan is in Dallas and, while his role has yet to be defined, it appears as though he is going to be the play-caller (typically referred to as an offensive coordinator), but Jerruh isn't making anything official just yet.

As if the AFC East wasn't a peeing contest already with Bill Belichick and Rex Ryan in position to talk tough, volatile former Lions head coach Jim Schwartz was throwing the gauntlet from snowy Buffalo, promising the Bills will come into 2014 with a chip on their shoulder. Ironically, Schwartz's same chest-thumping got some on the Detroit bandwagon to be a Super Bowl contender.

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